Abstract

A study on the Lepidopteran fauna of Silent Valley National Park revealed 96 species of butterflies (belonging to nine families) and 400 species of moths (belonging to 19 families) . The butterflies mostly belonged to the families Nymphalidae, Papilionidae and Pieridae. The fauna contained several endemic and rare species. Eighteen species of butterflies are reported to be extremely rare. This included eight species having protected status under the Indian Wildlife Act. The distributionn pattern of butterflies in the National Park was found to be in relation to the various habitats. The moths recorded mostly belonged to Noctuidae, Pyralidae, Geometridae and Arctiidae. The identity of only 246 species could be confirmed. While the economic importance of a few species is already known, that of many species is not available. In general, the fauna showed resemblance to that of sri Lanka and contained elements with Malayan, Ethiopian, African and Australian affinities